Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Echoes of a final duel ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from this fan fiction, they all belong to the creators of Revolutionary Girl Utena. There is some minor shoujo-ai (or girl/girl love) elements in this fic, but nothing too major. It's a prelude to my Arisugawa's Locket series, a short storyline about the events leading up to the opening of that club.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Echoes of a Final Duel

The pink haired woman stood up on the kareoke stage in the Shinjuku bar, her eyes dark and intense as she sang. The words of the song rang out across the bar like an anthem, as if they held some special meaning to her,

"I want to change the world,

"I want to make it well,"

A tiny pause, her expression growing sorrowful. Her voice drops down a bit, making the listener lean in closer to hear the rest,

"How can I change the world

when I can't change myself?

Try again tomorrow..."

From a table not far away, Arisugawa Juri looked up at her thoughtfully as she returned to her seat. "Interesting choice of song, Utena," she said.

It was very odd, finding herself here in a dinky bar not far from her home with Tenjou Utena, of all people. They had passed each other outside her apartment building seemingly by chance, and soon had agreed to going out and catching up with each other. And all the while Juri found herself wondering, why? Why come to see her? And why now?

"Thank you," Utena smiled back.

Juri found herself looking intently for the idealism that Utena had always carried along with her like a banner, and was comforted to see it remaining within her blue eyes. There was a growing maturity visible there as well, and it was clear that she had lost some of her innocence along that road to growing up.

`Join the club,' Juri thought wryly.

"What do you remember about Ohtori?" Utena asked her softly.

Juri nodded, finally understanding a bit about why Utena had decided to seek her out. "I remember the Duels," she said softly, "the Rose bride, and the prize that we Duelists all fought for, a prize that you never wanted." A pause, "The power to revolutionize the world."

Utena smiled gently, "Good."

"What I don't know for certain," Juri met those shockingly blue eyes with her own, "is who was the Victor of the Duels." She smiled grimly, "You won, didn't you?"

Utena puffed out a breath, "Yes."

"How did you..." Juri started to say, only to be stopped by a upraised hand.

"I'm very sorry," Utena said to her quietly, "but I'm not ready to talk about it, what happened to me back then." Juri was surprised to see a single tear slide down her cheek, "I don't know if I'll ever be ready to."

Juri accepted that, if somewhat reluctantly. "You were the victor of the Duels. Did you win the prize, the Power to Revolutionize the World?" she asked.

"I don't know if I'd call it a prize," Utena smiled wryly, "it's more like a burden. But yes, I did gain that power."

Juri opened up her mouth to say the first thing that came to mind, then firmly stopped herself. Instead she simply sipped at her drink, looking over at Utena thoughtfully and letting the silence speak for her.

"You're really quite good at that," Utena smiled slightly, "maybe you should have been a priest." A soft laugh. "Or a bartender."

Juri smiled slightly at that, but remained silent.

"The power of Dios... when I call upon it, it's almost too much for me to control. It's like walking on the edge of a cliff, the ground crumbling under your feet while knowing that over the edge is a never-ending fall," Utena tried to explain.

"You've used it then," Juri prompted her.

"Right after I received it," Utena softly agreed, "I tried to reach out across Ohtori, make things better for all those who had been touched by the Duels." A soft sigh, "Instead, I managed to erase all memory of myself and the Duels."

"But I remember," Juri stared, then her eyes narrowed. "I only really began remembering a few months back. Why?" she asked.

"I ran into Wakaba," Utena sighed.

Juri nodded slightly, remembering the brown haired girl Utena spoke of. Cheerful, full of energy, almost the personification of the word genki, she and Utena had been best friends from elementary school. From what Juri had heard later on, Wakaba was why Utena got involved with the Duels in the first place, avenging her honor against Saionji.

"She remembered me from when we were younger," Utena said quietly, "but nothing from the Ohtori period. Nothing at all." She picked up her drink, having a bit of the rum and coke, "So I tried to set things right again, more or less."

"Well, thank you for the memories," Juri smiled, getting a soft chuckle from Utena. She sat down her own drink, "What happened to Anthy?"

"I don't know," Utena surprised her with that answer.

"What? Why?" Juri sat up, looking over at her in confusion.

"I wanted her to be free," Utena said softly in explanation, "free of being the Rose Bride, free of the world's pain, and free even of any obligation towards me. So I slipped away from Ohtori and I haven't seen her since."

Juri nodded thoughtfully, picking up her drink only to put it down once again. "I think she loved you," Juri finally said, "in her own way."

"You could be right," Utena quietly agreed.

"Juri? Arisugawa Juri?" a girl's voice came from behind them. There was a flash of annoyance on Juri's face, but she quickly masked it.

"Yes?" Juri turned around in her seat to ask the girl quietly.

"I knew it was her!" the girl practically squealed to her friends. In moments a group of young women were around Juri, gushing about a photo spread in some magazine. Juri signed autographs good naturedly, and soon enough they were alone again.

"Does that happen to you often?" Utena asked with a smile.

"I never should have let my friend talk me into doing that photo shoot," Juri sighed. "So what are you going to do now?" she asked her softly.

"Be careful to use the power very, very cautiously," Utena smiled, "after traveling around Japan for the past few years, I can almost understand how Dios could find himself wanting to bring the world a revolution."

Juri sounded just a bit worried as she asked, "You aren't going to try doing that, are you?" She really didn't think that the Utena she had known would do something like that, but it had been a few years since they had all graduated.

"No," Utena shook her head, "for that kind of revolution to have any meaning it can't be brought in from outside." A gentle smile, "The only way that you can ever change the world will be the hard way, one person at a time."

Juri raised her glass smoothly, "To the revolution of the world!"

Utena tapped her glass against Juri's, "And to the world's revolution!"

"So you've been traveling around Japan," Juri shook her head, "me, too. Too bad I couldn't seem to find what I was looking for."

"Or maybe you've already found it, but just don't know it yet," Utena offered.

"Don't get Zen with me," Juri mock threatened.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Utena smiled slightly. She got up a bit unsteadily from her chair, apparently feeling the alcohol.

Juri got up to steady her, "You all right?"

"I'll be fine," Utena waved her off. She seemed to concentrate for a moment, and all traces of the unsteadiness were gone. "Neat trick, hmm?" she smiled at Juri.

"I'm impressed," Juri nodded thoughtfully. They made their way through the crowded bar, Juri occasionally throwing a scowl at any grabby men they encountered. It didn't take long to get outside, the air crisp with a fall chill.

"Thank you for seeing me at such short notice," Utena offered Juri her hand.

As Juri was shaking it she saw a familiar figure coming up from behind Utena. "Don't look now," she murmured, "but you've got company."

Utena turned and simply froze.

"Utena-sa..." Anthy started to say, then she stopped herself. With a gentle smile, "Utena, I've been looking for you."

Anthy had changed almost as much as Utena had, dressing in casual clothing rather than the school girl's uniform Juri was used to seeing her in. But the biggest difference was in her eyes. When she looked over at Utena, Anthy was happy, fully, honestly happy.

"Anthy," Utena seemed at a loss for words.

Juri moved behind her and then nudged gently, sending her forward towards where Anthy nervously stood. As the two women fell into a fierce hug Juri said to them with a smile, "I'll leave you two to catch up."

Juri walked away from them, tempted to hang back to hear what they said but firmly restraining herself. She did stop to look back for a moment, and smiled at what she saw. Throughout the evening Juri had felt that there was something... off about Utena. But now, standing there with Anthy at her side, she looked complete at last.

`They're going to be all right,' Juri thought with a smile.

It was getting a bit chilly, so Juri pulled her jacket tighter around her, considering something else that Utena had said to her that night. `A bartender,' she mused, `not very likely. But owning a bar...' Juri nodded to herself thoughtfully, `that I could do.'

The bar that Utena and she had been drinking in was little better than a meat market. No self respecting woman would have gone in there if an alternative had been available. `So what if I provide an alternative?' Juri mused. A place to meet and talk, dance and drink without worrying about getting into trouble. A bar run by women, staffed by women, just for women.

"But what do I call it?" Juri wondered aloud. The name she chose would have to be a memorable one, something that stuck in someone's mind. Without thinking about it Juri reached for the locket that had once dangled around her neck, forgetting that she had cast if off many years ago. Then she froze.

`Arisugawa's Locket,' Juri thought. Her family name, boldly placed along with a symbol of her past, a past that she wasn't ashamed to show. She smiled, striding down the street, plans for what would be in her bar already forming in her head...

To be continued...